Elden Ring is already being hailed as one of the greatest video games of all time.
But what is it exactly? How do you play it? And can you enjoy it if you’re not a regular gamer?
Let’s find out.
What is Elden Ring?
Elden Ring is the latest video game from iconic Japanese gaming studio, FromSoftware. This is the same studio that created the critically acclaimed Souls Series.
Essentially, it’s an open world role-playing adventure game. Set in a ravaged world (as it often is in video games) called Lands Between, the titular artefact has been destroyed which has led to devastating wars and chaos.
This is where you as the player come in. You play a warrior tasked with the mission of restoring the Elden Ring and thus becoming the ruler of a new kingdom.
Sounds simple enough right? But there’s so much more.
How do I play Elden Ring?
As with many games, you’ve got a huge immersive world to explore. It’s full of castles, caves and similarly spooky locations. As you explore these places, you have to fight a plethora of monsters which can get as dangerous as fire-breathing dragons.
But you won’t be alone in this game. When you’re travelling around, you’ll also meet in-game characters that can give you side quests to complete which usually come with valuable rewards to help you progress in the main body of the game.
One of the reasons it has garnered such high praise is because you get as much out of the game as you put in.
You can have a casual walkabout (or ride on your horse if you’ve acquired one) or you can fall fully down the rabbit hole with things like Super Armour, stance breaks and something called Ashes of War – which adds speical powers to your armaments.
Can I enjoy it if I’m not a regular gamer?
Definitely! On the one hand, it’s an uncompromising game that wants you to focus on it in its entirety when you play it. But on the other hand, you can easily just play the parts of the game that you want to until you’re ready for more.
For example, when battling an opponent, Elden Rings has been compared to traditional role playing games. You have to be strategic in what you do. Observe your enemy, find their weakness and see how you can exploit that weakness to ensure victory for yourself. Alternatively, if you get the living daylights scared out of you by a giant troll with a massive club who wants to beat you to death, you can just get back on your horse, run away and find something else to do.
There’s also a multiplayer element to the game where other players can come to your aid during key encounters.
Moreover, there are other items and parts of the game to uncover which will help you with your tasks too. One of these appears early in the game.
Called the Lone Wolf Ash, this feature provides you with a pack of spectral wolves who will then go and attack your enemies for you. That’s nice of them isn’t it?
So as mentioned above, you can just go around the entire map and do your own thing and become more invested in the narrative as and when you feel like it.
If you’re new to gaming, take advantage of the early stages to level up as much as you can, find out which weapons work best for you and hoard lots of useful bits and bobs.
Should you check it out?
To sum it up, Elden Ring is a great starting point if you’re new to the world of video games. If you’re a long time gamer, it’s awesome too.
Either way, you’ll find plenty of people to talk about it with.
And if ratings are anything to go by, it has 94% on Metacritic, 10/10 on IGN and 4/5 on Common Sense Media.
So why not go and check it out now with some mates and decide for yourself?
